Sunday, June 21, 2009

Could Vitor Belfort Make a UFC Return... Against Anderson Silva?

Vitor Belfort is currently under contract with Affliction Entertainment, scheduled to compete on the promotion's third effort, Trilogy, on Aug. 1 in Anaheim, Calif. He will face current Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago on the pay-per-view portion of the fight card.

But could he end up back in his old stomping grounds, the UFC... facing current UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva, no less?

Stranger things have happened.

UFC president Dana White on Saturday night -- during The Ultimate Fighter Finale telecast -- more than alluded to the possibility of a return of "The Phenom."

"I know (Anderson) wants to stay at 185 pounds. So, while he's fighting Forrest (at 205 pounds in August), I'm working right now on some other 185-pounders," stated the UFC big-wig.

And just who might he be working on... well, he at least has his eyes on?

"Vitor Belfort. Vitor is a former heavyweight, moved down to 205, now at 185. He's got great hands, great on the ground. If his head is right, he's a dangerous, dangerous guy. I think that'd be a great match-up," said White.

Would it be no surprise that he might want Belfort back, especially after he destroyed Matt Lindland -- a fighter that White isn't exactly fond of -- at Affliction's sophomore effort in January?

And more than that, could Belfort actually be "the bad match-up" for Silva? Could he be the one to dethrone the king?

9 comments:

Xandon said...

Vitor does have the tool set to deal with Anderson but I want to see how he does against Jorge Santiago first. If he is able to walk through Santiago with ease I see him posing a lot of problems for Silva. His strength will come into play in the fight and he is extremely fast like Anderson. His striking is not as rounded as Anderson's but he has the speed to catch Anderson and we have not seen Anderson's chin tested yet. Also I see Griffin winning in the second via TKO..U HEARD IT HERE FIRST

Anonymous said...

I really hope Belfort comes back to the UFC but I think it was stupid announcing this on Spike. It's just more pressure on Vitor to perform well.

Anonymous said...

* It's just more pressure on Vitor to perform well Against Santiago.

Anonymous said...

If he's gonna fight Silva he needs to perform well under pressure...kinda the point...All great fighter must perform well under pressure...You can't baby a fighter of all people...

Anonymous said...

Im not sure that another striker would do well against Anderson Silva. In my mind I think only Demian Maia can defeat Anderson.

Xandon said...

As good as Demian Maia is he would still have to get close enough to take Anderson down and Maia's striking is far from good. I believe he would be picked apart before he could get the fight to the ground. Marquart is fairly good on the ground and he has strong stand up. Out of any UFC middleweight besides Dan Henderson I think he has the best shot at defeating Silva.

Anonymous said...

whatever the outcome it would be an exciting match up that id look forward to for sure.

Anonymous said...

Vitor trains at black house mma and Anderson comes from black house I don't see them fighting anytime soon... Anderson is the best fighter in the world I would love to see forrest win but I doubt that will happen.

Anonymous said...

I doubt they would fight each other. They're teammates at team black house. i think Dana is trying to stir up the pot because the UFC's middleweight division happens to be their weakest division. Unless Anderson and Silva could easily put aside their friendship to fight each other; I don't see the two getting into the cage with one another.